Jeannine’s Journey

My son Liam was born in February of 2008. He appeared to be a normal baby. At six months old however we noticed that he wasn’t gaining weight. I was told that it was reflux and not to worry. At nine months the weight was still very much an issue but we started to take notice that Liam wouldn’t make eye contact, he also wasn’t rolling over, sitting up, babbling, pointing or playing with toys. I decided to get him into early intervention because I believed things were not as they should have been.

When Liam was born he was 8.8 lbs, at one year he was 12.6 lbs and the doctors beleived we might be dealing with more than just a simple delay. We started seeing Dr Williams at Hershey Medical Center and we enrolled him in John Heinz for OT, PT and Speech.

Finally at the age of two we went to Geisinger and got the diagnosis I had been dreading. Liam was Autistic. All the dreams I had for this child evaporated, poof. I was told that Liam was very mild and we might not even notice he has a problem. We were hopeful.

Liam is a 9 year old boy with a kind heart and a great sense of humor. He was recently got the diagnosis of intellectual Disability so Liam gets a lot of extra help in school, but he’s doing it. This summer Liam started having seizures close to 100 a day so we are working on trying to find a medication that works for him. This is a set back but we are hoping that with the right medication he will be back on track.

I found that the dreams that I originally had for my son were just that, dreams. We live in the here and now and I don’t put pressure on him to be something that he’s not. I’m very proud of my son and the person he is becoming.

Brighter Journeys would like to introduce you to an organization called Hosts For Hospitals for anyone who goes to see specialists outside of our area. This program is perfect for people on a budget and is a great choice if the Ronald McDonald House is not an option.

One of our parents recently got to make use of the program for her son and she stayed with some lovely people while her son was at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. For more information about Jeannine Marie's visit to Philadelphia utilizing Hosts for Hospitals please feel free to contact Jeannine at www.facebook.com/jeannine.morrissey.9